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Numbers Game: Ante Razov & Chris Rolfe's Shots/Goals comparison

Numbers Game: Ante Razov & Chris Rolfe's Shots/Goals comparison

As Chris Rolfe himself pointed out to Anthony Zilis recently, 2013 has been his worst year statistically with just four goals and one assist over 28 games this season. Still, teammates have backed him, with his contribution as a midfield sub in last Saturday's 2-2 draw specifically sticking out.

The mention of this being a poor statistical season combined with Mike Magee calling Rolfe a "great finisher" had me go back and nerd out on his body of work over the years. With 48 goals, Rolfe continues to be the club's second all-time scoring leader behind Ante Razov at 76.

The fact that Rolfe has now equaled the number of seasons Razov played made their shots to goal percentage an interesting and worthy comparison.

See the tables below...

Ante Razov

Years

GP

Goals

Shots

SOG

Goals/Shots %

Goals/SOG %

1998

30

10

88

41

11.36%

24.39%

1999

30

14

90

49

15.56%

28.57%

2000

24

18

127

63

14.17%

28.57%

2001

7

2

26

11

7.69%

18.18%

2002

25

14

115

56

12.17%

25%

2003

26

14

119

67

11.76%

20.9%

2004

13

4

52

25

7.69%

16%

TOTALS

155

76

617

312

12.32%

24.36%

Chris Rolfe

Years

GP

Goals

Shots

SOG

Goals/Shots %

Goals/SOG %

2005

29

8

61

32

13.11%

25%

2006

21

7

39

19

17.95%

36.84%

2007

19

6

38

19

15.79%

31.58%

2008

26

9

42

24

21.43%

37.5%

2009

28

6

62

26

9.68%

23.08%

2012

22

8

58

20

13.79%

40%

2013

28

4

66

18

6.06%

22.22%

TOTALS

173

48

366

158

13.11%

30.38%

Some Takeaways...

- Despite playing 18 matches more, Razov took 251 more shots and 153 more shots on goal than Rolfe. That might have to do with the fact that...

Rolfe has played a significant amount of his Fire career out on the wing -and-

Razov was arguably surrounded by a stronger cast of attacking players (the league never had more than 12 teams when he was in Chicago) -and-

Ante just shot a heck of a lot more than Chris

- To Magee's point, Rolfe is a stronger finisher over the course of his Fire career. Only once did Razov go above 15% conversion on his goals/shot ratio while Rolfe did it three times. Between 2006-08, the current Fire attacker also went above 31% on his Goals/SOG ratio and has never dipped below 20% in his career.

- While there isn't much difference in the pair's career goals/shots ratio (less than one percentage point), Rolfe's Goals/SOG ratio is noticeably higher, coming in at just over 30%.